


STALKING

by OminousPredictions



Series: CONSEQUENCES [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Badass Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Consequences, First of a series, Lila Rossi Bashing, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Lila gets a heavy dose of karma, Oblivious Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Stalking, The class appreciates Marinette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:49:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25269391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OminousPredictions/pseuds/OminousPredictions
Summary: First in the CONSEQUENCES series, where Lila suffers for the crimes she commits. Some she's done on the show, others will be scenarios of my own invention.Lila tries to paint Marinette as a stalker, but it doesn't go quite the way she thinks.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: CONSEQUENCES [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1830691
Comments: 36
Kudos: 1322





	STALKING

It was a well-known fact in Ms. Bustier’s class that Marinette Dupain-Cheng was head-over-heels for Adrien Agreste (well-known by everyone except the poor, cluelessly naive boy himself), to a degree that bordered on slightly unhealthy. Indeed, some of her actions could legally be taken as stalking if accidentally misidentified……….. or maliciously misconstrued. This was precisely what Lila Rossi intended to do that morning by exposing Marinette’s dark little secret to the entire class. The pathetic little brat would be exposed as an obsessive stalker nut, her credibility would be destroyed, her friends would desert her and Adrien wouldn’t have anything to do with her, leaving him hers and hers alone. Her cruel, sly smirk switched effortlessly into a polite, beaming one as she entered the class with a large folder under her arm. The folder contained two weeks worth of work, tracking Marinette, observing Marinette, documenting evidence of her less-than-healthy interest in Adrien. This would spell the downfall of her, breaking what pitiful hold she still maintained over the class and leaving her for them to flock to, to deliver the adulation and attention she so rightly deserved. Marinette watched her with narrowed eyes, clearly aware Lila was planning something, and Lila shot her a cruel smirk before turning to Ms. Bustier.

“Oh, Ms. Bustier!”, she crowed in her most sickly sweet voice. “Would it be all right if I showed the class something important?”

The kindhearted teacher, whom Lila was able to string like a lute, looked surprised.

“Lila, class starts in ten minutes and we have many important things to cover today.”, she said. “Perhaps it could wait until another time?”

Lila glowered for a brief moment before hitching her sweet demeanour back on. 

“Oh, it won’t take long. And it’s really important! It pertains to the safety and unity of the class!”, she simpered.

Lila knew Ms. Bustier’s soft heart when it came to others, especially her students. Pathetic, but useful if properly manipulated. Lila missed the oddly shrewd look that Ms. Bustier gave her before switching to her usual bubbly teacher persona.

“Very well, Lila.”, she said. “I suppose we can spare a few moments.”

“Thanks, Ms. Bustier! You’re the best!”, Lila gushed.

As she turned to address the class, she failed to notice Ms. Bustier steepling her fingers and leaning back in her chair; this should be interesting, the teacher thought to herself.

“Everyone, I have an important announcement to make that pertains to a potentially dangerous situation with a person in our class.”, Lila announced.

Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen; even Nathaniel, who had eyes for nothing other than his art and his boyfriend, raised his head to look at her. 

“This person is a deceiver, a trickster and a liar, masking this beneath a veneer of kindness and sweetness in pursuit of one of our own classmates.”, Lila said, the words rolling off her tongue like poisoned honey.

Marinette looked caught between nervousness and disbelief, as though she knew where this was going. Some of the class were already losing interest, though; Nathaniel’s head dropped back over his drawings and Chloe resumed thumbing through her phone whilst sipping her coffee.

“I’m speaking, of course, of Marinette Dupain-Cheng.”, Lila said with a smug smile.

Chloe spat her coffee almost clear across the room, Nathaniel’s head shot up so fast his neck made a cracking noise and Alya dropped her phone. None of these reactions came closest, however, to matching Adrien’s.

“WHAT?!”, he shouted.

“Lila, what are you on about?”, Alix demanded.

Lila shot a conniving look at Marinette before continuing.

“I have proof.”, she said, holding up the folder. “Proof that Marinette is nothing more than a deceitful character with an obsessive infatuation……….”

Marinette had turned deathly pale and was silently shaking her head, either in disbelief at the situation or a plea for Lila to stop. But Lila had no intention of stopping.

“............... with Adrien Agreste.”, she finished triumphantly.

Lila would have given anything in the world to preserve the look of anguish, humiliation and heartbreak on Marinette’s face as she said those words. The girl’s face was ashen beneath her blue hair and she seemed to slump in her seat as though all the energy and drive to continue had leaked out of her. Adrien, for his part, had a look that could only really be described as a poleaxed ox, glancing at Marinette in utter disbelief. Lila, on a roll, ploughed on.

“This evidence, painstakingly gathered over several weeks, shows that Marinette is not at all the sweet, kind person she pretends to be.”, she purred. “She has no regard for others privacy, no sense of boundaries, obsessively stalks them to gain information she can exploit and generally doesn’t care for anyone else as people. I really hated finding this out, but it was necessary to protect all of you from being manipulated by her.”

Lila then proceeded to show them her proof; photographs of Marinette skulking in the background of some of Adrien’s photoshoots, her huge collage of photographs of Adrien that she had in her room, the schedule chart she kept in her locker. Lila knew in the back of her head that most of it was fairly innocent, but she also knew that everything could be misconstrued if twisted enough. She dumped all this onto the desk Marinette and Adrien were sitting at, stepped backwards and folded her arms, a smug smile on her face as she observed the utterly crushed look on Marinette’s face and the stunned one on Adrien’s face. He was staring at Marinette like he was seeing her for the first time, and was subconsciously leaning away from her. Lila smirked even more, looking Marinette directly in the eyes.

“Well, Marinette, what do you have to say for yourself?”, she said.

She’d won, of course, but far be it from her to ignore an opportunity to hammer more nails into the coffin. Marinette’s return glare, however, was not quite the defeated one she was looking for; she still had some fight left in her, Lila realised as Marinette stood up. Well, good. She liked a challenge.

“Congratulations, Lila.”, Marinette said through gritted teeth. “You’ve won. I admit it, I have a massive crush on Adrien. I might even love him.”

Adrien made a convulsive movement next to her and made to get up and speak as well, but Marinette held out an arm to stop him.

“Let me finish this whilst I can still speak elegantly in your presence, please.”, she said, not looking right at him.

Adrien nodded and sank back into his seat, watching her.

“All of the things depicted in these photographs are true.”, Marinette went on. “I keep a detailed schedule that allows me to know absolutely everything about Adrien’s daily life, where he will be and what he has to do that day, I have been to several of his photoshoots and I have a large selection of photographs of him.”

Lila could barely contain her glee; Marinette wasn’t even trying to excuse or dismiss the evidence even though she could spin it as being a lot tamer than it actually looked. The brat was digging her own grave right in front of her and it was glorious. But she missed the crafty gleam in Marinette’s eyes as the girl folded her arms.

“However, it is not for the reasons you have outlined.”, she said.

“What?”, Lila spluttered as she realised she was being directly addressed.

“Yes, I could be construed as a stalker by possessing such a detailed chart of his life.”, Marinette replied. “But that would also mean I would be stalking Nathaniel, and Alix, and Mylene, and nearly everyone else in this class.”

Marinette’s defeated expression had given way to a coldly professional “do-not-mess-with-me” one. 

“I am, despite my clumsiness and chronic lateness, nevertheless one of the most well-organised and responsible people in this class.”, she said. “As such, I am relied upon by the busy, scatterbrained parents and guardians of my classmates to remind their equally busy, scatterbrained brood of important things they’re guaranteed to forget.”

She took out her phone and flicked through it.

“Case in point. Alix, you have a dentist appointment after school. Nath, you and Marc have a meeting with your editor on Thursday. Kim, swimming lesson tomorrow. Max, collect your new prescription from the opticians on Friday morning. Chloe, your dinner reservation with your mother is confirmed for Sunday evening. And Ivan, your drum kit is repaired and ready to collect.”, she reeled off.

The specified classmates checked their phones.

“So I do.”, Nathaniel remarked. “Thanks, Marinette.”

“Damn, I was hoping my old man had forgotten!”, Alix cursed.

“Good job, Dupain-Cheng.”, Chloe said through a clenched jaw.

And each of them produced a crisp, shiny ten euro note from their wallet, purse or pocket and passed it along to Marinette, who put them in her little pink clutch bag. Lila’s eyes greedily followed the money.

“In exchange for this schedule management, I take in a bit of money and they get a discount on any commissions they make.”, Marinette said. “I would be doing the same for you, but for some reason I could never get ahold of your mother. A pity, since I’m sure she would appreciate a trustworthy classmate to keep track of all her daughter’s innumerable activities and ailments.”

Lila narrowed her eyes at the not-so-subtle dig towards her lies. One of her biggest points against Marinette had been utterly turned on it’s head by the pigtailed brat herself. This could not be!

“But…………… but………… you’re still a stalker!”, she cried, pointing an accusing finger at Marinette. “Why else would you be at the photoshoots? You’re not a model!”

Marinette raised an eyebrow.

“No, I’m not. That role is yours.”, she said, in a slightly bitter tone. “But that doesn’t concern me because I realised being in front of the camera and in the spotlight isn’t my thing. I’m much more at home behind the scenes, keeping an eye on things and making sure it all runs smoothly. This was noted by Ms. Nathalie Sancoeur, Mr. Agreste’s personal assistant, who asked me to help manage things and remind Adrien of things he had scheduled. I didn’t quite keep to that because my feelings for him meant I couldn’t form a coherent sentence in his presence, but I did pass the information on to Nino as I trusted him to get it across to his best friend.”

Adrien glanced at Nino, who chuckled sheepishly.

“So these photos of me “skulking” in the background were actually me directing everyone behind the scenes.”, Marinette went on. “Make-up artists, lighting technicians, photographers, hospitality staff, all needing to know where to go. I’m good at these things, so I was asked to do it.”

Lila growled under her breath; another point ruined. But let’s see her wriggled out of the most condemning one.

“Explain the huge collection of photographs, then. What’s that if not a stalker shrine?”, she asked in a withering tone.

Now Marinette’s glare transformed itself into a really furious one.

“Actually, perhaps you could explain.”, she said.

“Explain what?”, Lila asked.

“That collage of photographs is only kept in one place, my bedroom, which I cannot ever recall inviting you into. So how did you get these pictures of it?”, Marinette asked.

Lila gulped; she had disguised herself as a window washer to climb up the side of the bakery when it was closed and take photos through an open window, but no need to let them know that. The other members of the class, who had been listening to this with a mixture of curiosity and confusion, now began to whisper amongst themselves and Lila found several suspicious glares shot at her.

“That’s not important!”, she said. “What is important is that you have a huge amount of photographs of one boy, a boy you just admitted you have a massive crush on!”

But Lila’s obfuscation fooled no one. Alya got to her feet, her face registering suspicion and disgust.

“I’m with Marinette on this one. As irritating as her dislike of you has been, I’ve respected her wishes to not bring you along on certain girls’ nights at her house. To my knowledge, you’ve never been in her room. So how did you get those photos?”, she asked.

“Plus, that schedule chart is kept in her locker.”, Nathaniel piped up. “Given she doesn’t like you, I highly doubt she gave you the combination.”

“I calculate it to be less than 2.8% likely that Marinette would give her locker combination to Lila, given her somewhat erroneous dislike of her.”, Max chipped in.

“Yeah!”, Alix said. “All of this stuff is a bit incriminating, I grant you, but it’s all a demonstration of how driven and devoted Marinette is to us and her interests!”

“And it’s private!”, Rose piped up. “Why would you be going around following Marinette and taking photos of her?”

“If you ask me, Dupain-Cheng isn’t the stalker.”, Chloe said, smirking at Lila. “It’s Rossi.”

Lila sensed she was rapidly losing control of the situation, but her twisted mind refused to acknowledge it. Her entire plot to get Marinette labelled a mad stalker and socially ostracised had been completely turned on it’s head; not only had Marinette refuted every single claim, but it had resulted in Lila herself being seen as the crazed stalker. Of Marinette herself, no less!

“Me?!”, she shrieked. “Where did this come from?! I was just trying to bring this behaviour to your attention because it’s not normal and could be a sign of deep instability!”

“Like yours is meant to make us feel any better?”, Chloe pressed.

“I agree with Chloe, something which I never thought I would say in my life.”, Alix said.

“Lila, even if your intentions were noble, this stuff is making you look bad.”, Mylene remarked.

“She’s right.”, Kim chipped in. “For all you’re telling us that Marinette is some creepy, crazy stalker, your behaviour in following her and taking photos of her without her knowledge or consent is actually making you look more like the stalker.”

Lila could not believe this; even with proof shoved right in their faces, they were refusing to believe it and instead labelling her as the offender! Who cared how she’d obtained the proof?! It was proof, plain and simple. They should be scrambling away from Marinette and begging her to do something, especially Adrien. Yet the boy was looking at her with………. was that admiration? Adulation? Maybe even………..? No. No, that couldn’t be possible!

“I’M NOT A STALKER!”, Lila shrieked loudly.

Everyone jumped and shrank away from her and Lila realised too late that she had only made herself look even more unstable in their eyes.

“I think, Lila, that we should have a talk with Mr. Damocles.”, Ms. Bustier said, having observed this silently from behind her desk. “And your mother.”

“But, Ms. Bustier, I’ve done nothing wrong!”, Lila insisted, crocodile tears already welling.

“Your ‘evidence’ tells me otherwise.”, Ms. Bustier replied coldly. “Mr. Damocles’ office, now.”

Ms. Bustier’s normal warmth and cheer had vanished, giving way to a steely strictness that was more reminiscent of Ms. Mendeleiev. Lila clenched her fists and ground her teeth, but could do nothing other than follow the very insistent teacher out of the classroom. Before she left the room, she hissed at Marinette.

“This is not over!”

But, oh, it was over. So very much so. Mr. Damocles, very concerned indeed about this outburst, agreed at once with Ms. Bustier that Lila’s mother should be contacted and brought in. Lila tried to intimate once more that her mother was extremely busy and shouldn’t be disturbed with such a trifling matter, but the seemingly spineless headmaster actually put his foot down for once and insisted on contacting her. When the number provided by Lila failed to go through three times, he called the embassy directly and, to his immense surprise, found Mrs. Rossi to be very amenable to cutting her day short and having a talk with him about why the school had been closed for several months because of the akumas that the incompetent heroes were unable to stop.

“Mrs. Rossi, the school has been open all this time with only minimal disruption that is fixed easily by Ladybug and Cat Noir, who are far from incompetent.”

To say that Mrs. Rossi was upset at being deceived was like saying water was wet; the understatement of the century. She screamed herself hoarse at Lila for an hour straight before declaring she would be taken straight home and grounded, with a leave of absence from the embassy to keep an eye on her. As Lila was marched out of the headmaster’s office under the gaze of the entire school, clutching her suspension papers and glowering hard enough to set stone on fire, she spotted Marinette standing with Adrien and the rest of the class, all of them looking at her like she was a sea slug. Her eyes bored into the baker’s daughter, then roamed down to her hand…………… which was being held by Adrien’s in a very firm and intimate grip. Her eyes widened as she realised what this meant.

“NOOOOOOOOOOO!”, she screamed, lunging for Marinette’s throat.

Lila left school with injury added to insult, specifically a broken nose from getting Marinette’s fist slammed into it. Having tried to assault Marinette in full view of the school authorities, she was summarily served with an official expulsion and restraining orders from the Dupain-Cheng family and Gabriel Agreste, who proceeded to cut her loose from his employment as a model. She was still talked about, of course, but she was talked about in terms of contempt rather than awe and labelled “that crazy stalker chick”, of which there were hundreds so she wasn’t even that special. After a month of isolation, Lila finally managed to slip out and went after Marinette with a knife. She might actually have succeeded in hurting her, except she was accompanying Etta and Ella Cesaire to the cinema along with their big sister Nora. Nora, a champion kickboxer with an overprotective streak a mile long when it came to her family, reacted in the standard fashion when a mad girl leapt out at her little sisters brandishing a knife by seizing said girl’s wrist and snapping it like a twig before slamming her against the side of a car hard enough to crack the window, knocking her senseless. Lila, heavily bandaged and bruised, received a six-month sentence in juvenile detention for breaching the restraining order and was promptly removed to Italy to serve out her sentence.

**Author's Note:**

> So, that's one down. This series won't have a set number and the stories will probably be small one-shots that are unconnected.
> 
> Only Lila will be really punished. The others might get the occasional slap around the back of the head, but will remain true to form. Check my PINCH OF SALT analysis of "Chameleon" for the reasons behind that decision and enjoy what you read. Comment moderation will be in place on account of a certain lurking lower life form, which is regrettable but necessary.
> 
> Here, Marinette's actions are very stalker-like, but only if taken out of context. As clumsy and uncoordinated as she is, she has a gift for organisation, keeping people on track and looking out for her friends. Since most of the class are very busy or scatterbrained, with parents to match, the parents decided to hire Marinette as an informal manager of sorts to keep their kids on the right track with appointments and meetings.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Don't Mess With Family](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28011492) by [Marichat_FairyTail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marichat_FairyTail/pseuds/Marichat_FairyTail)




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